Images used from my site without permission

What should I do? Am I covered?

[chrisandsarah]

Hello
I run a website which allows users to upload images.
When they place an image on my site, their name along with copyright symbol is displayed below the image. Not on all pages though. On some pages, their name and copyright symbol is not present along with the image( such as the image enlargement page)

Also on my site I have on every page "copyright mydomainname 2005 - 2006"

Now, a user has contacted me saying he has found a poster which uses images he uploaded to my site, and therefore he claims were taken from my site. He's sent me the poster and its an ad for a local political party.

My question is, what can I do about it? Am I covered or is the fact that some pages on my site do not state image copyright where they display the image, make me responsible for them taking and using his images from my site?

Please help..

[stapel]

Just to clarify: You have a site. User "A" posted his "image" to your site. Party "B" has posted a copy of "image" to some other site. "A" is complaining to you about "B".

I don't see how you can get involved between "A" and "B". If "A" has a complaint about what "B" has done on some completely different web site, then "A" needs to contact "B" or else the web host for the other site. All you did was provide a way for "A" to post his image. There is no way to prove that "B" got the image from your site. And even if he did, you're not liable for what "B" does on some other site that you don't control.

Eliz.

[malachite]

If the user wants to get stroppy, you'd obviously have to contact a lawyer for professional advice. But in the main, I'd agree with stapel, that the primary argument is between your user and the poster producer.

If this image has been used in a poster advertising a local political party, then your user should pursue whoever has produced the poster for breaching his copyright, and should hit them with an invoice for a normal one-off reproduction licence, plus an amount for using the image without prior consent.

Does the user have any way of proving the image was lifted from your site? For instance, was the uploaded image so large and high res that it was of a high enough quality to be reproduced as a printed poster?

If the user is adamant his image can only have come from your site, get him to put this in writing, and then you should go after the poster producer as well.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. In future, make sure all images on your site carry a watermark, which will make it nigh impossible for this situation to occur again.

[Matt Probert]

As the others have said, and also:

When you publish images on the WWW you must expect them to be copied. Its a fact of life. If you (or your uploading image users) are really concerned about it, don't publish the images.

Matt

[willjan]

Not sure I fully understand this, but if "A" placed an image on your site that was not his (or her's) you are potentially in trouble. If you qualify as an ISP, the proper proceedure is to notify you with a DMCA and you follow the rules.

If you don't qualify as an ISP, it gets more complicated and I'd see, not just a lawyer, but a qualified IP lawyer. Too many folks go to a "generalist" and "IP" law requires a specialist.

Willjan

[Essex_boy]

Ive just found someone doing the same to me, Im going to rename the file and and add an adult (!) picture in its place.